The Gilgo Beach Killer
"I'm watching your sister's body rot." "The Gilgo Beach Killer" is a recent and prolific serial killer who is believed to have killed several people in a period of nearly 20 years. He currently remains unidentified. Brief Case History The police investigation into the Gilgo Beach Killer was originally centered on the search for Shannan Gilbert, an escort from New Jersey, who was reported missing in May 2010. She was last seen in the area after she fled from, rather than to, her driver, identified as Michael Pak. Before going missing, Gilbert managed to make a 911 phone call, panicking and saying that "they were going to kill her". In December, a police officer was exercising with his dog when he accidently found the skeletal remains of a woman in a nearly disintegrated burlap sack. Following this discovery, three more bodies were found two days later, in the same area on the north side of the Ocean Parkway. The discovery of the bodies led police to believe that a serial killer was responsible. The investigation was expanded to Nassau County, where they eventually found more remains. On June 16, Suffolk County police raised the reward from $5,000 to $25,000 for information about the killer or the victims, the largest ever offered in the county's history. On November 29, police announced that they believe one killer is responsible for all of the murders and that the person is almost certainly a resident of Long Island. On December 13, the remains of Shannan Gilbert were found in a marsh about half a mile from where she disappeared; some of her clothes were also found a week later. The Gilgo Beach Killer also called Melissa Barthelemy's family, one of his victims, via her cellphone. He taunted her sister Amanda by calling Melissa a whore and said information that only her family knew. The killer kept stalking Amanda and her family, resulting in the calls continuing for months until they abruptly stopped after a TV station revealed their existence. As of today, the identity of the killer is uncertain. Modus Operandi Most of the Gilgo Beach Killer's victims were women associated with the sex trade. He strangled all of them to death and dismembered the bodies in order to easily place them inside burlap sacks. He then dumped the remains along the Ocean Parkway, near the remote Long Island towns of Gilgo Beach and Oak Beach. On one occasion, he stalked a victim's family for months by harassing them via phone calls. Profile It has been suggested that the Gilgo Beach Killer is most likely a Caucasian male in his mid-20s to mid-40s who is very familiar with the South Shore of Long Island and who has access to burlap sacks, which he uses to contain the victims' bodies in. He may have a detailed knowledge of law enforcement techniques and perhaps even ties to the law enforcement community, which have thus far helped him avoid detection. The killer's use of modern technology to commit the murders means that he must have some knowledge of how computer systems and cellphones work so he cannot be traced through something as simple as an IP address when searching for victims on Craigslist or when he made the phone calls to a victim's family. Known Victims Canonical *December 2010 : **Melissa Barthelemy, 24 **Amber Lynn Costello, 27 **Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25 **Megan Waterman, 22 *March-April 2011 : **Jessica Taylor, 20 **Jane Doe #6 **John Doe **Baby Doe, 16-24 months **Jane Doe #3 **Jane Doe #7 Possible *March 3, 2007: "Cherries" *June 2008: Tanya Rush, 39 *May 1, 2010: Shannan Maria Gilbert, 24 *2013: **January 23: Unnamed woman, 29 **June 24: Natasha Jugo, 31 *Unspecified date: Unnamed woman Notes *A number of unidentified serial killers are suspected of being the Gilgo Beach Killer: **The Original Night Stalker, who is believed by some people to have moved to the Eastern Seaboard and returned serial killing, escaping detection by utilizing a completely different M.O. **The Eastbound Strangler, a serial killer active in 2006, who strangled four women to death from October to November, dumping the bodies in a drainage ditch. The Strangler was initially thought to have a connection to the Gilgo Beach Killer, but this possibility was eventually left aside by investigators. **The West Mesa Bone Collector, who murdered at least eleven prostitutes and buried their bodies in a mass grave, which was found one year before the Gilgo Beach Killer's first canonical victims' remains were found. **The Brockton Killer, who murdered two women and dumped their dismembered bodies in a wooded area on the outskirts of the city. Their bodies were found on December 28, 2014. Due to the nature of the murders, he is highly believed to have murdered more victims in the past. *Aside from the uncaught killers, a few identified killers are also suspected of having a connection to the Gilgo Beach Killer: **Joel Rifkin, a serial killer who is believed to have murdered at least 17 prostitutes in New York and Long Island. Speculations suggested that he was responsible for some of the older remains, but he denied any involvement with the case. **Neal Falls, a now-deceased suspected serial killer who is believed to have murdered and dismembered at least ten prostitutes in multiple states, most of whom were advertising themselves online. On July 18, 2015, Falls was shot and killed by an escort named Heather when he attempted to strangle her. On Criminal Minds Though the case didn't become infamous until a few months after Remembrance of Things Past aired, Lee Mullens' habit of having his victims call their families has some similarity to an incident involving the Gilgo Beach Killer: a few weeks after one of his victims disappeared, he is believed to have used her cellphone to call her sister and taunt her. The Gilgo Beach Killer was mentioned in Scarecrow, when the BAU briefly assumed a serial killer in Yakima, Washington, to be him, since both targeted female sex workers and disposed of their victims' bodies in a single location near or in a body of water. Both also wrapped at least some of their victims' bodies in burlap sacks. In addition, a would-be victim of Decker's, who was nicknamed "Cherry", had a tattoo of cherries near her cleavage; a suspected victim of the Gilgo Beach Killer, known only as "Cherries", had a near-identical tattoo on the same spot. A Twitter post confirmed that the Gilgo Beach Killer case provided some inspiration for the episode's plot. Sources *Wikipedia: **The Gilgo Beach Killer **"Peaches" and section about "Cherries" *''New York Post'' articles: **Article about the Gilgo Beach Killer **Article about the phone call made by the Gilgo Beach Killer *Reddit post about the Gilgo Beach Killer's connection to other unidentified killers Category:Real People Category:Real Life Killers Category:Real Serial Killers Category:Unsolved Cases Category:Real Life Stalkers